Spiral of silence: what is it and what are its causes?

Often people we hide our opinions when they are minority and controversial out of fear that other people will reject us or receive some kind of punishment for doing so. This phenomenon was described by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, who called it the “spiral of silence”.

In this article we will describe what is the spiral of silence and what are the causes of this type of social pressure. We will also make a brief description of some of the most frequent criticisms around the Noelle-Neumann theory.

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What is the spiral of silence?

German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann proposed in his book The spiral of silence. Public opinion: our social skin the concept of "spiral of silence", which is used to describe the tendency that we show the people not to publicly expose our opinions when we are aware that these are not majority.

According to this author, for a majority opinion to be capable of promoting a spiral of silence must contain an ethical component

. In this way, there would hardly be a social pressure of this type around whether or not the pineapple is a acceptable topping for pizza, although it does on the morality of abortion or the penalty of death.

The theory of the spiral of silence is based on a series of hypotheses related to each other.

• Most of us fear social isolation.
• Consequently, we observe the behavior of others to identify what opinions and behaviors are socially acceptable.
• Isolation or social rejection of unpopular opinions is manifested in gestures such as turning the face or maintaining silence.
• People tend to hide our points of view when we have the expectation that we will receive these types of answers.
• Those who hold majority opinions express them publicly without fear.
• The spiral of silence triggered by repeated expression of majority opinion and the concealment of minorities.
• This process happens around controversial issues, not when there is consensus.
• The number of people who defend an opinion is not always relevant.
• The concealment of divergent opinions is usually unconscious in nature.
• Public opinion exercises a role of social control in a given time and space and may vary depending on these dimensions.
• The spiral of silence resolves conflicts by favoring one of the opinions that exist in this regard, fulfilling an integration role.

Causes of this phenomenon

Noelle-Neumann stated that the spiral of silence is mainly due to two types of fear: the one we feel of being socially isolated and the fear of even more significant consequences. The intensity of these fears can vary due to different factors, which influences the degree of resistance to showing a divergent opinion.

In the first case, people are usually afraid of being rejected by others in response to the expression of unpopular views. This could be the case of an economics student who sympathizes with communism and avoids manifesting it before the professors and her colleagues, who are mainly neoliberal.

However, sometimes giving our opinion can involve even greater risks than the decrease in acceptance by our environment; for example, a person who opposes the methods or objectives of her superiors in front of her co-workers is in danger of being fired.

The spiral of silence is generated when the person who has a divergent opinion listens to others fervently defending the majority point of view, and is reinforced again each time this it happens again. Thus, we feel less free to express a minority opinion the more popular the dominant one.

The mass media are a fundamental tool in the development of spirals of silence. This is due not only to the fact that they collect majority points of view, but also because they influence a large number of people; And since they can generate majority opinions, they also create the corresponding spirals of silence.

Noelle-Neumann's approaches imply that people have an intuitive ability to identify which is the dominant opinion on a given topic. It is important to bear in mind that the correctness of these personal hypotheses may vary depending on the person and the specific situation.

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Criticisms of this theory

Criticisms have been raised of different aspects of the theory of the spiral of silence that call into question its theoretical validity and its explanatory capacity. In any case, and despite its defects, the concept proposed by Noelle-Neumann is useful for conceptualizing some aspects of reality.

In this sense, the concept of the 'noisy minority', which can be as influential as a majority. The spiral of silence, therefore, is not immutable nor does it affect all persons or groups equally; likewise, a minority opinion can become a majority opinion, even in a short period of time.

On the other hand the rise of the internet it has led to a decrease in the weight of the mass media in public opinion. Networks greatly facilitate the dissemination of minority opinions, as well as data (real or false) that support them and call into question the points of view defended by the status quo.

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Bibliographic references:

• Noelle-Neumann, E. (1984). The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion - Our social skin. Chicago: University of Chicago.

• Noelle-Neumann, E. (1991). The theory of public opinion: The concept of the Spiral of Silence. In J. TO. Anderson (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 14, 256-287. Newbury Park, California: Sage.